Global and local entity naming

ABSTRACT

An improved entity naming scheme employs the use of two sets of names: local names and global names. The local and global naming scheme may be applied to entities that are assigned to a number of different global compartments. Local entities are entities that are assigned to the same compartment, while non-local entities are entities that are assigned to different compartments. Each entity is assigned a local name that is unique among all local entities. Additionally, a number of global entities are identified. Global entities are entities that are referenced by one or more non-local entities. Each global entity is assigned a global name that is unique among all global entities.

BACKGROUND

In conventional computing applications, it is often necessary to assignnames to a number of entities. The term “entity,” as used herein, refersto anything to which a name can be assigned such as, for example, apage, a location, a document, a recipient, or an address. Names may bestrictly numeric, or may include numbers, letter, symbols, othercharacters, or any combination thereof. Web page ranking is a commonscenario in which it is necessary to assign names to entities. Inparticular, during web page ranking, a score is repeatedly propagatedfrom a current page to the recipient pages that are pointed to by thecurrent page. The current page may be considered to “point” to arecipient page if, for example, the current page has a uniform resourcelocator (URL) or another link that points to the recipient page. Forexample, if a current page has a score of 30, and the current pagepoints to three recipient pages, then a score of 10 points each may bepropagated from the current page to each of the three recipient pages towhich it points. In such an iterative process, it is important to haveimmediate access to each of the recipient pages so that the score can beimmediately propagated from the current page to the recipient pages. Acommon technique for providing this immediate access is to store a scorein random access memory (RAM) for each of the recipient pages. To easilyaccess these scores, each page is assigned a numeric name that describeswhere in RAM that score is located.

One of the challenges related to entity naming schemes is that, inconventional computing applications, the number of total entities towhich names must be assigned is often quite large. For example, for webpage ranking, it may currently be necessary to assign 20 billion or morenames, with the number of existing web pages continuing to rapidlyincrease. Because a program may demand access to any of the named pages,the amount of memory required to be active is typically proportional tothe number of named pages. Thus, for example, between 80 and 320gigabytes or more of active memory may be required for 20 billion names.This greatly exceeds the capacity of any one computer and necessitates acomplicated memory distribution implementation.

SUMMARY

An improved entity naming scheme employs the use of two sets of names:local names and global names. The local and global naming scheme may beapplied to entities that are assigned to a number of differentcompartments. Local entities are entities that are assigned to the samecompartment, while non-local entities are entities that are assigned todifferent compartments. Each entity is assigned a local name that isunique among all local entities. Additionally, a number of globalentities are identified. Global entities are entities that arereferenced by one or more non-local entities. Each global entity isassigned a global name that is unique among all global entities. Thus,whenever a global entity is referenced by a non-local entity, the globalentity can be easily identified by its global name. Additionally,whenever a global or non-global entity is referenced by a local entity,the global or non-global entity can be easily identified by its localname because the context will be clear. Thus, when performing operationson entities that are registered to any particular compartment, it is notnecessary to activate all global and local names. Rather, everyreferenced entity, whether local or non-local, can be identified usingonly the global names plus the local names for the entities that areregistered to the particular compartment.

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended tobe used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subjectmatter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The illustrative embodiments will be better understood after reading thefollowing detailed description with reference to the appended drawings,in which:

FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary global and local naming scheme;

FIG. 2 depicts exemplary method for managing global and local names;

FIG. 3 depicts exemplary method for performing operations using globaland local names;

FIG. 4 depicts an exemplary method for assigning global names; and

FIG. 5 is a block diagram representing an exemplary computing device.

DETAILED DESCRPTION

An exemplary global and local naming scheme is depicted in FIG. 1. Byway of example and not limitation, the entities being assigned names inFIG. 1 are web pages. However, global and local names may be assigned toentities other than web pages. Also by way of example and notlimitation, the naming scheme depicted in FIG. 1 involves entities thatare registered to three different compartments: compartment-a,compartment-b, and compartment-c. The term “compartment,” as usedherein, refers to any collection of entities such as, for example,hosts, domains, entities that are located in the same geographic area,or any other collection of entities. Each web page that has the phrase“compartment-a” in its title is registered to compartment-a. Each webpage that has the phrase “compartment-b” in its title is registered tocompartment-b. Each web page that has the phrase “compartment-c” in itstitle is registered to compartment-c. To simplify this description, webpages whose titles include only the compartment name (i.e.,www.compartment-a.com, www.compartment-b.com, and www.compartment-c.com)will be referred to as “homepages,” while other web pages will bereferred to as “secondary pages.” As should be appreciated, however,homepages may include titles that are not identical to theircorresponding compartment name.

Global name table 10 identifies global names for each global entity. Aglobal entity is an entity that is referenced by one or more non-localentities. For example, suppose that the web page www.compartment-b.comhas a uniform resource locator (URL) that points to the web pagewww.compartment-a.com. In this case, www.compartment-a.com, which isregistered to compartment-a, is considered a global entity because it isreferenced by www.compartment-b.com, which is registered to non-localcompartment-b. Global web pages need not always be homepages. Forexample, www.compartment-a.com may point to a non-local secondary pagesuch as www.compartment-b.com/page-b, thereby making that it a globalentity and causing it to be included in global name table 10.

Global names are unique among all global entities. For example,www.compartment-a.com and www.compartment-b.com cannot both have theglobal name “1”. The reasons for this will be explained below withreference to act 216 of FIG. 2. In FIG. 1, each entity is assigned a onedigit numeric global or local name. However, global and local names mayalso include letters, numbers, symbols, any other characters, and anycombination thereof. Additionally, global and local names may be anynumber of characters in length.

Local name tables 20 a-c include local names for the entities registeredto compartment-a, compartment-b, and compartment-c. In particular, localname table 20 a includes local names for entities that are registered tocompartment-a, local name table 20 b includes local names for entitiesthat are registered to compartment-b, and local name table 20 c includeslocal names for entities that are registered to compartment-c. Eachentity that is registered to one of compartment-a, compartment-b, andcompartment-c will receive a local name—even if the entity is alsoassigned a global name. In FIG. 1, each homepage is assigned the localname “1”. However, homepages need not necessarily receive the name “1”.

As depicted in FIG. 1, unlike global names, local names need not beunique across all compartments. Rather, local names need only be uniqueamong other local entities. For example, www.compartment-a.com/page-aand www.compartment-a.com/page-b cannot both have the local name “1”because they are both registered to compartment-a. However, by contrast,both www.compartment-a.com/page-a and www.compartment-b.com/page-a canhave the local name “1” because they are registered to differentcompartments. The reasons for this will be explained below withreference to act 216 of FIG. 2.

An exemplary method for managing global and local names is depicted inFIG. 2. At act 210, global name table 10 is activated. Global name table10 may be activated by retrieving it from secondary storage such as ahard disk or a database to active memory. Global name table 10 may alsoalready be in active memory such as when, for example, it has beenrecently created or edited. At act 212, a next remaining compartment isselected on which to perform operations. For example, at act 212,compartment-a may be selected as the next compartment on which toperform operations. At act 214, the local name table corresponding tothe selected compartment is activated. For example, if compartment-a isselected at act 212, then local name table 20 a will be activated at act214. A local name table 20 may be activated by retrieving it fromsecondary storage. A local name table 20 may also already be in activememory such as when, for example, it has been recently created oredited.

At act 216, operations are performed on entities within the selectedcompartment. Operations may include for example, page ranking, emaildelivery, or any other type of operation that may be performed on a setof entities. For example, if page ranking operations are beingperformed, then each web page that is registered to the selectedcompartment may be examined to determine whether it references any otherweb pages, and, if so, a score may then be propagated to thosereferenced web pages.

At this point in time, the data stored in active memory corresponds tothe global names plus the set of local names corresponding to theselected compartment. This is because any entity that is referenced byan entity registered to the selected compartment can be identified usingonly the global names plus the set of local names corresponding to theselected compartment. In particular, any non-local entity that isreferenced by an entity registered to the selected compartment will be aglobal entity that has a global name that is stored in active memory.For example, if www.compartment-a.com references www.compartment-b.com,then www.compartment-b.com can be identified by its global name “2”,which is stored in global name table 10. Additionally, any local entitythat is referenced by an entity registered to the selected compartmentwill have a local name that is stored in active memory. For example, ifwww.compartment-a.com references www.compartment-a.com/page-a, thenwww.compartment-a.com/page-a can be identified by its local name “2”,which is stored in local name table 20 a.

Thus, by employing the global and local naming scheme, the largestamount of memory that needs to be active at any single time correspondsto the number of global names plus the largest number of local namesthat are assigned to entities registered to any single compartment. Forthe exemplary scheme depicted in FIG. 1 in its current form, this meansthat the largest number of names that need to be stored in active memoryis nine names, which is the current number of global names (four) plusthe largest current set of local names (five) registered tocompartment-c. As should be appreciated, this number is less than thecurrent total number of names which would need to be stored in activememory using conventional entity naming schemes, which is equal to thecurrent number of entities registered to all three compartments(twelve). For operations such as web page ranking, where the totalnumber of named entities can exceed 20 billion, the global and localnaming scheme can substantially reduce active memory requirements,substantially reduce the number of computers required to provide suchactive memory, and substantially simplify the distribution schemesrequired to access such computers.

The fact that only the local names for the entities registered to theselected compartment (and not all local names) are stored in activememory explains why, unlike global names, local names need not be uniqueacross all compartments. This is because, when one entity referencesanother local entity, the context is clear. For example, whenwww.compartment-a.com references www.compartment-a.com/page-a, thenwww.compartment-a.com/page-a will be identified using the local name“2”. Although www.compartment-a.com/page-a is not the only entity thathas the local name “2”, the other entities that have the local name “2”are non-local entities that cannot be identified bywww.compartment-a.com using their local names. By contrast, globalentities can always be identified using their global names by both localand non-local entities. Thus, all global names must be unique.

The global and local naming scheme depicted in FIG. 1 is alsoadvantageous because all entities that are registered to the samecompartment may, although need not necessarily, be assigned local namesin close proximity to one another. For example, in FIG. 1, entities thatare registered to compartment-a have local names “1” through “3”,entities that are registered to compartment-b have local names “1”through “4”, and entities that are registered to compartment-c havelocal names “1” through “5”. Thus, when a new entity is assigned a newlocal name, the new entity may be assigned the next incremental localname available for its compartment. For example, a new entity registeredto compartment-a may be assigned the new local name “4,” which is thenext incremental name available for compartment-a. By contrast, inconventional naming schemes, entity names may not be grouped together bycompartment. Therefore, in conventional naming schemes, the nextavailable incremental name may not be in close proximity to other localentity names.

Returning to FIG. 2, at act 218, after operations are performed on theentities registered to the selected compartment, the local namescorresponding to the selected compartment are deactivated. The localnames may be deactivated by returning them from active memory tosecondary storage. At act 220, it is determined whether there are anyremaining compartments on which to perform operations. If so, then themethod returns to act 312, where a next remaining compartment isselected. If there are no remaining compartments, then, at act 222,global name table 10 is deactivated. Act 222 is an optional act, as theglobal names may remain activated permanently or for any period of timeafter the method of FIG. 2 is completed.

An exemplary method for performing operations using global and localnames is depicted in FIG. 3. The exemplary method of FIG. 3 is onepossible method for performing act 216 of FIG. 2. The exemplary methodof FIG. 3 involves the use of the terms “messages” and “boxes”. The term“message,” as used herein, refers to any data that is propagated fromone entity to another. In particular, for web page ranking operations,the term “message” may refer to scores that are propagated from areferring page to a referenced page. The term message may also refer toemail or any other kind of propagated data. The term “box,” as usedherein, refers to a portion of memory into which messages can bedeposited and from which messages can be retrieved. A box may be, forexample, a portion of random access memory (RAM). Each global name mayidentify a particular global box, while each local name may identify aparticular local box. In particular, for web page ranking operations,scores can be propagated from a referring page to a referenced page bydelivering the score to the referenced page's global or local box. Ifthe referenced page is a local page, then the score will be delivered tothe referenced page's local box, which is identified by its local name.By contrast, if the referenced page is a non-local page, then the scorewill be delivered to the referenced page's global box, which isidentified by its global name.

At act 310, a next remaining entity that is registered to the selectedcompartment is selected. For example, if, at act 212 of FIG. 2,compartment-a is selected as the next compartment, thenwww.compartment-a.com (or any other entity that is registered tocompartment-a) may be selected as the next entity at act 310. At act312, if the selected entity is a global entity, then the selectedentity's global messages are retrieved from the selected entity's globalbox, which is identified by its global name. The global messages willinclude messages that have been sent to the selected entity from othernon-local entities. At act 316, the selected entity's local messages areretrieved from the selected entity's local box, which is identified byits local name. The local messages will include messages that have beensent to the selected entity from other local entities.

At act 316, local messages are sent from the selected entity to thelocal boxes of all local referenced entities. The local boxes for thoselocal referenced entities can be identified by their local names, whichwill be stored in active memory. At act 318, global messages are sentfrom the selected entity to the global boxes of all non-local referencedentities. The global boxes for those non-local referenced entities canbe identified by their global names, which will be stored in activememory. As should be appreciated, steps 312-318 need not necessarily beperformed in the order in which are depicted in FIG. 3. At act 320, itis determined whether there are any remaining entities within theselected compartment. If so, then the method returns to act 310, where anext remaining entity is selected. If there are no remaining entities,then, at act 322, the performance of operations for the selected entityis concluded.

An exemplary method for assigning global names to a set ofinter-compartment entities is depicted in FIG. 4. At act 410, a nextremaining entity in the set of inter-compartment entities is selected.At act 412, a next remaining reference within the selected entity isselected. For example, for web page ranking operations, the nextselected reference may be a URL within a selected web page. At act 414,it is determined whether the referenced entity is a local entity or anon-local entity. If the referenced entity is a non-local entity, then,at act 416, a global name is assigned to the referenced entity. In manyinstances, it may not be desirable to assign multiple global names to anentity. Thus, if the referenced entity already has a global name, thenit may be desirable to skip step 416. At act 418, it is determinedwhether there are any remaining references within the selected entity.If so, then the method returns to act 412, where a next remainingreference is selected. If there are no remaining references within theselected entity, then, at act 420, it is determined whether there areany remaining entities within the inter-compartment set of entities. Ifso, then the method returns to act 410, where a next remaining entity isselected. If there are no remaining entities, then all current globalentities have been assigned a global name and the method is concluded.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a suitable computing system environment100 in which the subject matter described above may be implemented. Thecomputing system environment 100 is only one example of a suitablecomputing environment and is not intended to suggest any limitation asto the scope of use or functionality of the subject matter describedabove. Neither should the computing environment 100 be interpreted ashaving any dependency or requirement relating to any one or combinationof components illustrated in the exemplary operating environment 100.

With reference to FIG. 5, computing system environment 100 includes ageneral purpose computing device in the form of a computer 110.Components of computer 110 may include, but are not limited to, aprocessing unit 120, a system memory 130, and a system bus 121 thatcouples various system components including the system memory to theprocessing unit 120. The system bus 121 may be any of several types ofbus structures including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheralbus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. By wayof example, and not limitation, such architectures include IndustryStandard Architecture (ISA) bus, Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus,Enhanced ISA (EISA) bus, Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA)local bus, and Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus (also knownas Mezzanine bus).

Computer 110 typically includes a variety of computer readable media.Computer readable media can be any available media that can be accessedby computer 110 and includes both volatile and nonvolatile media,removable and non-removable media. By way of example, and notlimitation, computer readable media may comprise computer storage mediaand communication media. Computer storage media include both volatileand nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in anymethod or technology for storage of information such as computerreadable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data.Computer storage media include, but are not limited to, RAM, ROM,EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CDROM, digitalversatile disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes,magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices,or any other medium which can be used to store the desired informationand which can be accessed by computer 110. Communication media typicallyembody computer readable instructions, data structures, program modulesor other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or othertransport mechanism and include any information delivery media. The term“modulated data signal” means a signal that has one or more of itscharacteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode informationin the signal. By way of example, and not limitation, communicationmedia include wired media such as a wired network or direct-wiredconnection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared and otherwireless media. Combinations of any of the above should also be includedwithin the scope of computer readable media.

The system memory 130 includes computer storage media in the form ofvolatile and/or nonvolatile memory such as read only memory (ROM) 131and random access memory (RAM) 132. A basic input/output system 133(BIOS), containing the basic routines that help to transfer informationbetween elements within computer 110, such as during start-up, istypically stored in ROM 131. RAM 132 typically contains data and/orprogram modules that are immediately accessible to and/or presentlybeing operated on by processing unit 120. By way of example, and notlimitation, FIG. 5 illustrates operating system 134, applicationprograms 135, other program modules 136, and program data 137.

The computer 110 may also include other removable/non-removable,volatile/nonvolatile computer storage media. By way of example only,FIG. 5 illustrates a hard disk drive 141 that reads from or writes tonon-removable, nonvolatile magnetic media, a magnetic disk drive 151that reads from or writes to a removable, nonvolatile magnetic disk 152,and an optical disk drive 155 that reads from or writes to a removable,nonvolatile optical disk 156, such as a CD-RW, DVD-RW or other opticalmedia. Other removable/non-removable, volatile/nonvolatile computerstorage media that can be used in the exemplary operating environmentinclude, but are not limited to, magnetic tape cassettes, flash memorycards, digital versatile disks, digital video tape, solid state RAM,solid state ROM and the like. The hard disk drive 141 is typicallyconnected to the system bus 121 through a non-removable memory interfacesuch as interface 140, and magnetic disk drive 151 and optical diskdrive 155 are typically connected to the system bus 121 by a removablememory interface, such as interface 150.

The drives and their associated computer storage media discussed aboveand illustrated in FIG. 5 provide storage of computer readableinstructions, data structures, program modules and other data for thecomputer 110. In FIG. 5, for example, hard disk drive 141 is illustratedas storing operating system 144, application programs 145, other programmodules 146 and program data 147. Note that these components can eitherbe the same as or different from operating system 134, applicationprograms 135, other program modules 136 and program data 137. Operatingsystem 144, application programs 145, other program modules 146 andprogram data 147 are given different numbers here to illustrate that, ata minimum, they are different copies. A user may enter commands andinformation into the computer 110 through input devices such as akeyboard 162 and pointing device 161, such as a mouse, trackball ortouch pad. Other input devices (not shown) may include a microphone,joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, or the like. These andother input devices are often connected to the processing unit 120through a user input interface 160 that is coupled to the system bus121, but may be connected by other interface and bus structures, such asa parallel port, game port or a universal serial bus (USB). A graphicsinterface 182 may also be connected to the system bus 121. One or moregraphics processing units (GPUs) 184 may communicate with graphicsinterface 182. A monitor 191 or other type of display device is alsoconnected to the system bus 121 via an interface, such as a videointerface 190, which may in turn communicate with video memory 186. Inaddition to monitor 191, computers may also include other peripheraloutput devices such as speakers 197 and printer 196, which may beconnected through an output peripheral interface 195.

The computer 110 may operate in a networked or distributed environmentusing logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as aremote computer 180. The remote computer 180 may be a personal computer,a server, a router, a network PC, a peer device or other common networknode, and typically includes many or all of the elements described aboverelative to the computer 110, although only a memory storage device 181has been illustrated in FIG. 5. The logical connections depicted in FIG.5 include a local area network (LAN) 171 and a wide area network (WAN)173, but may also include other networks/buses. Such networkingenvironments are commonplace in homes, offices, enterprise-wide computernetworks, intranets and the Internet.

When used in a LAN networking environment, the computer 110 is connectedto the LAN 171 through a network interface or adapter 170. When used ina WAN networking environment, the computer 110 typically includes amodem 172 or other means for establishing communications over the WAN173, such as the Internet. The modem 172, which may be internal orexternal, may be connected to the system bus 121 via the user inputinterface 160, or other appropriate mechanism. In a networkedenvironment, program modules depicted relative to the computer 110, orportions thereof, may be stored in the remote memory storage device. Byway of example, and not limitation, FIG. 5 illustrates remoteapplication programs 185 as residing on memory device 181. It will beappreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary and othermeans of establishing a communications link between the computers may beused.

Although the subject matter has been described in language specific tothe structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to beunderstood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is notnecessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above.Rather, the specific features or acts described above are disclosed asexample forms of implementing the claims.

1. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructionsfor performing steps comprising: assigning a local name to each entitythat is registered to one of a plurality of compartments; and assigninga global name to each global entity that is registered to one of theplurality of compartments, each global entity being an entity that isreferenced by another entity that is registered to a differentcompartment than the global entity.
 2. The computer-readable medium ofclaim 1 having further computer-executable instructions for performingthe steps of: (a) activating local names corresponding to entities thatare registered to a first compartment in the plurality of compartments;(b) performing operations on the entities registered to the firstcompartment; and (c) de-activating the local names corresponding toentities that are registered to the first compartment.
 3. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 2 having further computer-executableinstructions for performing the step of: (d) repeating steps (a) through(c) for each compartment in the plurality of compartments.
 4. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 2 having further computer-executableinstructions for performing the step of: prior to performing step (a),activating global names corresponding to all global entities that areregistered to one of the plurality of compartments.
 5. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 2, wherein performing operationscomprises performing page ranking operations.
 6. The computer-readablemedium of claim 1, wherein each local name is unique to each compartmentsuch that no two entities that are registered to a single compartmentare assigned identical local names.
 7. The computer-readable medium ofclaim 1, wherein each global name is unique to the plurality ofcompartments such that no two global entities within the plurality ofcompartments are assigned identical global names.
 8. A computer-readablemedium having computer-executable instructions for performing stepscomprising: for a first entity registered to a first compartment:sending a local message from the first entity to a local box of a localentity that is also registered to the first compartment; and sending anon-local message from the first entity to a global box of a non-localentity that is not registered to the first compartment.
 9. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 8 having further computer-executableinstructions for performing the steps of: retrieving a message from thefirst entity's local box; and if the first entity has a global box, thenretrieving a message from the first entity's global box.
 10. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 9 having further computer-executableinstructions for performing the step of: repeating the steps of claims 8and 9 for each remaining entity registered to the first compartment. 11.The computer-readable medium of claim 10 having furthercomputer-executable instructions for performing the steps of: prior toperforming the steps of claims 8 through 10, activating local namescorresponding to entities registered to the first compartment, eachlocal name identifying a corresponding local box; and after performingthe steps of claims 8 through 10, de-activating the local namescorresponding to entities registered to the first compartment.
 12. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 11 having further computer-executableinstructions for performing the step of: repeating the steps of claims 8through 11 for each remaining compartment in a plurality ofcompartments.
 13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12 havingfurther computer-executable instructions for performing the step of:prior to performing the steps of claims 8 through 12, activating globalnames corresponding to the plurality of compartments, each global nameidentifying a corresponding global box.
 14. The computer-readable mediumof claim 8 having further computer-executable instructions forperforming the steps of: assigning a local name to each entityregistered to one of the plurality of compartments, each local namebeing unique to each compartment such that no two entities that areregistered to a single compartment are assigned identical local names;and assigning a global name to each entity registered to one of theplurality of compartments that is referenced by at least one non-localentity, each global name being unique to the plurality of compartmentssuch that no two entities within the plurality of compartments areassigned identical global names.
 15. The computer-readable medium ofclaim 8, wherein each entity is a web page.
 16. The computer-readablemedium of claim 8, wherein sending a message comprises propagating apage ranking score from a referring entity to a referenced entity.
 17. Amethod for assigning global names to entities, the method comprising:(a) examining a first reference to a referenced entity, the firstreference being within a first entity that is registered to a firstcompartment; (b) determining whether the referenced entity is registeredto the first compartment; (c) if the referenced entity is not registeredto the first compartment, then assigning a global name to the referencedentity.
 18. The method of claim 17, further comprising: (d) repeatingsteps (a) and (c) for each remaining entity registered to the firstcompartment.
 19. The method of claim 18, further comprising: (e)repeating steps (a) and (d) for each remaining compartment in aplurality of compartments.
 20. The method of claim 17, wherein examininga first reference comprises examining a uniform resource locator.